Over the next several weeks, IBM and its Business Partners will deliver many of the eServer i5 products and technologies that the midrange community has been talking about for months. These offerings will create new options for customizing the eServer i5 to meet a wider range of requirements. However, most customers will need to learn more about the benefits and trade-offs of the new products in order to choose between them.
While IBM has already announced most of the eServer i5 offerings that it is bringing to market, it still has a handful of products waiting in the wings for their debut. Among them is a mid-sized eServer i5 that will provide customers with more scalability than the Model 520. According to sources inside IBM, the computer giant will announce the new model tomorrow, so be sure to watch the iSeries Web site for further details.
Though IBM has not yet unveiled the full range of eServer i5 models, it has provided nearly all of the details about the new server's support for AIX and Linux. Starting on August 31, all eServer i5 models will be able to run AIX 5L at the V5.2 and V5.3 release levels. On the same day, Novell will ship SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 for POWER, the company's first Linux release for eServer i5 and p5 models. On September 30, Red Hat will follow suit by shipping Enterprise Linux AS 3, Update 3. The update adds support for POWER5 servers.
While each of these operating systems will run within eServer i5 logical partitions (LPARs), they will vary considerably in their ability to use the server's virtualization capabilities. Those variations could affect which operating systems customers choose and what applications they run on them. The following table documents the virtualization differences between each operating environment.
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Operating System Support for eServer i5 Virtualization Features
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|||||
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Virtualization Feature
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i5/OS V5R3
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SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS3, Update 3
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AIX 5L V5.3
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AIX 5L V5.2
|
|
Dedicated Partitions
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
Micro-Partitioning
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
Capped/Uncapped Partitions
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
Dynamic Partitioning of:
|
|||||
|
- Processors
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
- Memory
|
X
|
X
|
|||
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- I/O bandwidth
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
Virtual I/O Hosting
|
X
|
||||
|
Virtual I/O Client
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|||||
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- Disk storage
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
||
|
- Ethernet
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
X
|
|
|
- CD/DVD drives
|
X
|
X
|
|||
|
- Tape drives
|
X
|
X
|
|||
As the table demonstrates, the two AIX 5L releases behave quite differently when running on eServer i5 LPARs. Customers who use AIX 5L V5.2--a choice that may be necessary if an application does not run on V5.3--must create dedicated LPARs. The resulting LPARs require an entire processor and cannot support dynamic resizing, nor can they access virtual disk pools or Ethernets. Clearly, customers will have far greater flexibility if they run their AIX applications under V5.3.
There are also some differences between the Linux distributions that support POWER5 servers. While both SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES 9) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 (RHEL 3) support virtual I/O facilities, RHEL 3 does not support dynamic LPARs. However, many customers may be able to get adequate "dynamism" from RHEL 3 LPARs by designating them as capped or uncapped LPARs. As you may remember, the eServer i5 allows users to create shared processor pools from which LPARs can "withdraw" and "redeposit" capacity on a dynamic, as-needed basis. An uncapped LPAR can take as much idle capacity as it needs from the pool; a capped LPAR can only take capacity up to a predetermined level. Whether they are capped or uncapped, RHEL 3 LPARs can be automatically resized without having to be reinitialized. However, if you want to manually resize your RHEL LPARs on the fly, you will have to wait until Red Hat ships RHEL 4, which will fully support the Linux 2.6 kernel. The new version should become available during the first quarter of 2005.
Another important difference between the two Linux distributions is the software that they support. While most Linux software will run on both distributions, some products are certified or supported on only one distribution. For instance, if point your browser to IBM's Linux middleware matrix, you will discover that WebSphere Commerce Business Edition is only supported on the iSeries by SuSE Linux. Many application vendors also restrict their support to particular distributions.
In short, you should study the capabilities and limitations of each operating system and develop a clear deployment plan before placing an eServer i5 order. Wherever possible, find an IBM representative or Business Partner who specializes in the operating environments that you are considering. Because the eServer i5 is a complete IT infrastructure in a box, few individuals fully understand all of its functions. As such, don't be bashful about asking your current account team to call in the subject matter experts.
A Word About Workplace
There is another iSeries offering that is slowly working its way toward announcement day: Lotus Workplace. As you may remember from an article I wrote earlier this year, IBM intended to create an iSeries version of Workplace 2.0 that would ship in the middle of this year. Unfortunately, the company announced Workplace 2.0 at the end of July, but did so without supporting the iSeries. According to my sources inside IBM, the company is conducting a private beta test of Workplace 2.0 with a limited number of customers. This should set the stage for a public release of Workplace 2.5 on the iSeries. While Lotus is not committing to a date for that release, I expect it to ship at the end of 2004 or in early 2005. The iSeries version will likely run on iSeries models under OS/400 V5R2 and on the eServer i5 under i5/OS V5R3.
As I have already indicated, Lotus Workplace is just one of many announcements that will keep the iSeries community on its toes over the next several months. I'll be back next week with all the details about the newest member of the eServer i5 product family, so stay tuned.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
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